The Deadly Awards, commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. The first Deadlys were held in 1995, at the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op in the Redfern suburb of Sydney. They stemmed from Boomalli's 1993 Deadly Sounds music and culture radio show, and were driven by the late Gavin Jones' vision. Over the next few years, their venue shifted through The Metro Theatre, the Hard Rock Café, Home in Darling Harbour, Fox Studios and others. Then 2001 began The Deadlys residency at the Sydney Opera House, from where the annual gala was broadcast by National Indigenous Television. The Deadly Awards earlier growth continued along with widening regard as a community and Australian institution. Anchored by their annual event held at the Opera House, later years added venues in other states. Expansion also happened beyond their original music focus to include sport, entertainment, the arts, health, education and training in the Indigenous Australian community. And candidates began to be nominated and voted on by the public. The word "Deadly" is a modern colloquialism used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to indicate "cool, rockin', fantastic".
Cancellation
In June 2014, the Deadly Awards' funding was cut by the Abbott Government in measures designed to reallocate funding to indigenous education programs with 2014 Deadly funding phased back to $1 million and no funding provided for future years. On 12 July, Gavin Jones was found dead; it is not clear whether his death was related to the cuts. On 14 July 2014, Vibe Australia announced the cancellation of the 2014 Deadlys and that all Vibe projects concluded on 30 June 2014. After a story was run on Triple J's Hack program on 15 July 2014, a groundswell of community support for saving the Deadly Awards began. A petition on Change.org attracted over 26,000 signatures and a Kickstarter campaign reached $6,699. In November 2017, the National Dreamtime Awards were launched to fill the void in recognising indigenous achievements as a result of the cessation of the Deadly Awards.
